Karoline Melstveit

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’sremarkable originality and powerful musical conviction have seen him, in just a few years,take the music world by storm to become one of the most sought-after artists of today.

Ólafsson made an unforgettable impact with the release of his two landmark albums, Philip GlassPiano Works and Johann Sebastian Bach on Deutsche Grammophon, for whom he is an exclusive recording artist. Praised for revealing new possibilities within the music, Johann Sebastian Bach – featuring diverse original compositions and transcriptions, including Ólafsson’s own – deeply resonated with audiences and critics around the world. It appeared in multiple best albums of the year lists, was named one of the greatest ever Bach recordings in Gramophone, and won Best Instrumental and overall Album of the Year at the BBCMusic Magazine Awards 2019.

Ólafsson’s previous album, Philip GlassPiano Works was an equal success and saw him named ​“Iceland’s Glenn Gould” by the New York Times and ​“breathtakingly brilliant pianist” by Gramophone, while Le Monde heralded the pianist’s ​“volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, taste for challenges”. Ólafsson’s anticipated next album on Deutsche Grammophon will be launched in the 2019/20 season.

With a captivating ability to communicate both on and off-stage, Ólafsson’s coming seasons are marked by a series of high-profile international artist residencies at some of the world’s top concert halls. This begins in 2019/20 at the Konzerthaus Berlin with fourteen performances over eleven different projects, playing concertos by Thomas Adès, Schumann, Daníel Bjarnason and Mozart, two solo recitals and chamber programmes with the likes of Martin Fröst and Florian Boesch.

This season will see Ólafsson give the French première of John Adams’ Piano Concerto No.2 with Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and also perform the work with Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra – both with Adams conducting, as well as concerts with: Konzerthausorchester Berlin and Christoph Eschenbach; Hallé and Klaus Mäkelä; Hong Kong Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden; Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Ed Gardner; San Diego Symphony with Rafael Payare; and Iceland Symphony Orchestra with Daníel Bjarnason. Ólafsson will also give solo recitals at Wiener Konzerthaus, Luzern Festival, Konzerthaus Berlin, Gothenburg Concert Hall and across Japan for a recital tour.

Víkingur Ólafsson

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Highlights of the 2018/19 season included a return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing with Thomas Adès, opening Gothenburg Symphony’s season with Santtu Matias-Rouvali and performances with Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Philharmonia Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He gave recitals across Japan, the USA and in European halls including the Berliner Philharmoniker, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Palau de la Música in Barcelona, and Flagey in Brussels.

Víkingur Ólafsson has premiered six piano concerti to date, most recently that of Haukur Tómasson, with NDR Elbphilhamonie Orchester and Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Always pushing boundaries, Ólafsson set up his own record label prior to signing to Deutsche Grammophon, created and presented the Icelandic television series on classical music, Útúrdúr, and is founder and artistic director of the award-winning Reykjavík Midsummer Music.​

“Vikingur Ólafsson explored a fascinating sound cosmos in an amazingly unpretentious and effortless performance. Played with passion and yet gentleness, with breath-taking precision and unconditional devotion, creating an interpretation of lasting impact.”

“Olafssons hands are fast and powerful on the keys (think superfast, then add some more). His performance is earth-shaking and hypnotic, in short – he plays like a master.”

(Arbetarbladet, March 2019)

“There’s a quiet fearlessness to this album … Mr. Olafsson is a master of finding and exploiting unexpected pockets of musicality.”

(New York Times, December 2018)

“Víkingur Ólafsson’s latest album opens the door to new possibilities for the great composer’s music.”

(BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, Recording of the Year Christmas 2018)

“Bach at the keyboard has rarely sounded so fresh, expressive and joyous.”

(SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE, Classical Album of the Week, December 2018)

“For Bach playing of a higher order, there is only one place to go: the recent album by Víkingur Ólafsson.”

(THE TIMES 5* review, November 2018)

“Ólafsson’s ​“inspired playing makes Bach more human than we’ve heard in a long time”

(SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, December 2018)

“After his equally successful Glass album, Víkingur confirms he’s one of the pianists to look out for”

(CLASSICA 5* review, November/December 2018)

“Ólafsson combines the fantasy of Maria João Pires and Martha Argerich with the contrapuntal élan of Piotr Anderszewski. But he is very much his own man.”

(GRAMOPHONE Editor’s Choice, November 18)

“Does he really deserve the epithet ​“Icelands Glenn Gould” that the New York Times gave him? The answer is yes, he proved as a time-bending soloist in Edvard Grieg’s piano concerto. This classic from the romantic period sounds in the wrong hands overblown and sentimental, but Ólafsson plays as if every tone matters”

(Nicholas Ringskog Ferrada-Noli, Dagens nyheter, October 2017)

“We came to hear the prodigious interpreter of Philip Glass, and discovered an explosive reader of J‑S Bach.…”

(Le Figaro, September 2017)

“Ólafsson’s ability to paint with a thousand colours is magnificent”

(International Piano, Sep-Oct 2017)

“Iceland’s Glenn Gould”

(Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, August 2017)

“In Mr. Olafsson’s hands, Mr. Glass’s music is sculptural”

(New York Times, August 2017)

“The recital was a complete show of mastery and virtuosity.” *****

(Bachtrack, June 2017)

“Like Gould, Ólafsson possesses that rare gift of illuminating a familiar work in unexpected ways, revealing hidden depths and drawing out its best qualities.….breathtakingly brilliant pianist.”

(Gramophone, March 2017)

“Volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, a taste for challenges.”

(Le Monde, February 2017)

“The celebrated shooting star Víkingur Ólafsson made his debut with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and excelled with his sensitive and extremely virtuosic playing.”

(Bachtrack, February 2017)

“With the world premiere of Haukur Tómasson’s second piano concerto, the 32-year-old had the high tones sparkling like water, which drifted from icicles in the sunlight… and bewitched the audience with precision playing of the highest order”

(Hamburger Morgenpost, February 2017)

“Víkingur Ólafsson, for whom the work is written, possesses the authority, precision and clarity of contour required by the vertiginous solo part.”

(Diapason, February 2017)

“This is, frankly, one of the best single discs of Glass piano music I’ve ever heard, with a full spectrum of dynamics heard along with both personal utterances and works of true grandeur … This selection … by the 33-year old pianist from Iceland is quite stunning in its way. Everything about this selection – choice of repertoire, dynamic level, performance – is exquisite. This is Glass minimalism that even a hostile Ravel and Debussy-lover could love.”

(Buffalo News, February 2017)

“Volcanic temperament, great virtuosity, a taste for challenges.”

(Le Monde, February 2017)

“Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has found the perfect blend of playful free spirit and technical finesse.”

(Concerti Magazine, January 2017)

“… Olafsson ruminative and fiercely attacking by turns (and his thumbs must be among the most elastic in the business), taking self-possessed ownership of a work which remains bitty, for all its thematic unity … Olafsson gave us a delightful encore in the shape of a miniature by Jean-Philippe Rameau.” *****

(Birmingham Post, March 2016)

“few musicians match Olafsson for creative flair”

(BBC Music Magazine, February 2016)

“Olafsson succeeded superbly in one of the best Belfast performances of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto in recent years.”

(Belfast Telegraph, October 2015)

“The remarkable Vikingur Olafsson found sonic grandeur and excitement in Glass’ Étude No 6 and even more in No 14, which he ended in a stonking accelerando.”

(Richard Morrison, The Times, May 2015)

“Best of the bunch was Icelandic pianist Vikingur Ólafsson. He played the blizzard of scales in Phillip Glass’ Etude No 13 with amazing virtuosity, and gave the still quietness of Etude No 5 a monumental, rapt intensity.”

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